Member Article

Newcastle Airport in Portuguese partnership win

Newcastle Airport Fire Training Academy was selected as the training partner of choice to work with FALCK SCI Portugal to train Firefighters from Lisbon Airport in Portugal.

Firefighters have attended the Training Academy based at Newcastle Airport Fire Station to undertake a blend of technical and practical training utilising the state-of-art fireground.

The Newcastle Airport Fire Training Academy has over 20 years of experience working with businesses across the UK and beyond.

The academy is a world-class facility delivering training, both practical and classroom based, across a range of sectors. Training equipment includes a 767 aircraft fire simulator, Super Puma helicopter, helipad, fire screen and oil, gas and marine training facilities.

Selected personnel from Lisbon also attended a Crew Commanders programme in Newcastle, to develop command and control skills using a virtual reality simulator and then enhance their knowledge, understanding and skills on the fireground taking charge of a range of aircraft related incident scenarios.

Training Academy Manager at Newcastle International Airport, Tim Oakes, said: “This is another fantastic opportunity for the Newcastle Airport Fire Training Academy to develop training solutions for our clients.

“We have over 20 years of experience in delivering training including Fire Safety courses, Health and Safety training, First Aid and more. As well as our work with other airports, we also offer a significant amount of training for businesses across a range of sectors.

“To support this project with Lisbon Airport we sent members of the Fire Training Academy to Portugal to assist, assess and verify training which is delivered in country. The team also undertook practical training at the Fire Training Academy.

“We are dedicated to providing high quality training across a variety of sectors to ensure the knowledge and skills we have here at Newcastle is shared with learners.

“Aviation is a unique environment and it’s vital that those working in the sector have access to quality training programmes.”

This is not the first time that the Training Academy have been involved with firefighters from Portugal, last year 30 firefighters from Faro Airport attended an aviation firefighting course and it has been working with UK Trade & Investment to explore other overseas markets.

UKTI’s International Trade Adviser for Medium-Sized Businesses (MSBs), Chris Graham, who has been working closely with the airport, said: “We’re delighted that Newcastle Airport Fire Training Academy has been successful in its bid to win this latest overseas contract.

“We look forward to continue working with the airport and hope its success will inspire others to follow in its footsteps and take up the exporting for growth challenge.

“A new package of support was announced in the Autumn Statement to help small and medium-sized businesses take their first steps into export with £20m of funding in 2015-16.

“It will mean UKTI’s International Trade Advisers will be able to offer more help to first time exporters, helps others already exporting break into new markets and keeps the North East focussed on the 2020 Export Challenge set by the Government.”